Claims have now run under 300,000 for 55 straight weeks — the longest streak since 1973 — as the labor market continues to accelerate toward full employment.

"Today's release also includes revisions of both initial and continuing claims dating back to 2011," Thomas Simons of Jefferies wrote after the report. "Most of the changes were relatively modest, but the most notable aspect of the revisions is that claims for the week of March 5th (3 weeks ago) were revised down to 253K which is, as far as we can tell, the lowest weekly claims figure since November 24th, 1973.

"Considering population and labor force growth over the past 43 years, this is a remarkable statistic and it continues to suggest that not that much slack remains in the labor market."